Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) offers a transcript from a recent public speech by Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With the grace of God, we have almost reached the end of the path where we can take complete advantage of all nuclear capabilities. We are very near the summit. The resistance of the enemies grows weaker every day

Now they are mustering all their power, in order to cause some commotion – some resolution, some pressure, some uproar... But let me tell you that with the help of God, they are done for. Like a battery about to run out, they muster the remainder of their power but Allah willing, nothing will happen. We've passed that. Wait one month, two months, three months... Allah willing, as soon as possible, we will pass that. Their situation is much worse than one can imagine. Their foundations are shaking. Nobody is with them.

The new strategy in the standoff between Iran and the United States is the ‘chicken game.’ It is similar to the game of chicken that American youth play: two cars are heading toward each other at maximum speed, until one of them swerves. This kind of game has never persisted for more than a few months, but in this case, it began in the summer of 2005 and continues to this day, and is one of the lengthiest ones in memory – a 15 or 16 month- long period of tensions...

Right now... Mr. George W. Bush is driving the car and Mrs. Condoleeza Rice is telling him, go and crush the lemon that Ahmadinejad is driving, but Bush says, what if we hit the lemon and it is full of explosives? Thus these two cars are rapidly heading toward each other. During the period of this chicken game Iran undertook a new measure every three months: first it reopened the UCF facility in Isfahan; then it reopened the Natanz Facility and heavy water reactors in Arak; and finally it entered industrial-scale fuel production...

Not to be outdone, Al Qaeda spokesperson Adam Gadahn promised further destruction in the United States:

...Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech...

Monday, May 28, 2007

Volcanoes are immense polluters of the environment and should be required to adhere to the same rules that will be levied upon humans, according to climatologist Albert Gore, Jr.

"Volcanoes -- which are responsible for releasing millions of tons of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere -- can no longer expect a 'free ride' when it comes to climate change," said Albert Gore, Jr. The author, moviemaker, meteorologist, and retired politician has extended his Carbon Offset advocacy to natural -- and not just man-made -- events.

Police killed a man who had fired at two officers after they confronted him for allegedly stealing ice cream from a convenience store, Police Chief Tom Streicher said.

Four officers fired back at the unidentified man, Streicher said. The chief described it as a "running gunbattle" along several blocks of Queen City Avenue.

The man stole some ice cream from the United Dairy Farmers store at Quebec Road and Queen City Avenue, according to police. Police went to the scene to investigate the alleged theft when the man returned.

"He walked back into the store to get a spoon," Streicher said.

And the Great Spoon Shortage of '07 claims another victim. I blame Bush.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

During a series of raids on Al-Qaeda safe houses in Iraq, U.S. military personnel discovered an official "Al-Qaeda Torture Manual" and various tools used for the express purpose of torture. Items recovered included meat cleavers, whips, and bolt-cutters. In addition, several victims -- still alive -- were discovered. The group, which included a boy, was reportedly beaten repeatedly with chains, cables, and hoses.

Depicted above are excerpts from these items, with most of the graphic and disturbing images obscured or redacted. If you have the stomach for it, The Smoking Gun website has reprinted the entire document. Among the chapters: how to sever limbs; squeeze a victim's head in a vise; remove eyeballs; apply a blowtorch or a clothes iron to exposed flesh; and drill through hands.

* * *

Over the last several years, The New York Times has referenced the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal approximately 730 times. In fact, on May 22nd, in a Times book review of Al Gore's The Assault on Reason, Michiko Kakutani depicted the Abu Ghraib scandal in stark terms (emphasis mine):

[Gore] argues that the gruesome acts of torture committed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq “were a direct consequence of the culture of impunity — encouraged, authorized and instituted” by President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Columnist Maureen Dowd mentioned 'Abu Ghraib' at least 20 times, the military prison at 'Guantánamo' 7 times, and even used the phrase "the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo."

But there are no mentions in the Times of real torture; no mentions of Al Qaeda's predilection for blow-torching, eye-gouging and hand-drilling. There are no references to the prisoners recovered from the Al Qaeda safe houses. Nor of the truly depraved treatment they and countless others -- most of whom did not survive captivity -- encountered at the hands of Al Qaeda.

Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters patiently awaited mainstream media coverage of the manual. It was not forthcoming. Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit put the media blackout as succinctly as anyone has: "Silence is complicity, you know."

Not on Page One. And yet such false stories as the "flushed Koran" got widespread play in the newspapers and on television.

...Whether intentional or not, the message is clear: The United States must be above even false reports of torture, while the enemy is allowed to promote eye removal, blowtorching skin and horrors I won't go into.

James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal also "checked the blogs of Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald, among the most hysterical accusers of America in the "torture" debate, and here is what they have had to say about the al Qaeda documents: ."

Saturday, May 26, 2007

LGF operative Zombietime paid a surreptitious visit to San Rafael, California. The occasion: an Al Gore appearance at the Marin Civic Center. The Internet's inventor was there for a speech and to shill his new book. His talk -- to around 2,000 rapt global-warming cultists -- centered on the usual topics of climate change and the human causation thereof.

Saudi officials have arrested a man in Mecca for being a Christian, saying that the city, which Muslims consider to be holy, is off-limits to non-Muslims... Last week we noted that the Organization of the Islamic Conference was complaining about "Islamophobia." But we don't know of any city in the West that is off-limits to Muslims. When Christians, Jews and atheists are free to visit Mecca and Medina, we'll take "Islamophobia" seriously.

You know, if only the beleaguered Palestinians could take possession of Israel... and NATO would leave Afghanistan... and the U.S. and the U.K. would leave Iraq... and the U.N. would stop bugging Iran about its nuclear program, all of this bloodshed would end!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Is it really that hard for these simpletons in Congress to comprehend? Seal the border, then we'll talk. I've summarized the message from some of the blogosphere's luminaries. The message should be crystal clear even to the so-called Republicans who appear to be kowtowing to Ted Kennedy.

Dr. Robert Rector, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, talks with Mark Levin about the costs of amnesty:

Take-away: Every low-income citizen added to the population collects, on average, $30,000 per year from the government in services -- schooling, hospitals, Social Security (including supplemental SS for low income people who haven't paid much into the system), Medicaid, etc.

Each low-income citizen pays about $10,000 per year in taxes, total.

Net: Each new low-income citizen added to the population costs the nation around $18,000 per year, to be borne by other taxpayers.

At retirement, it gets worse.

Total cost: $2.5 trillion (with a t) flowing out of Social Security and Medicaid at just about the time the system's already going bankrupt due to the end of the huge wave of Boomer retiring and collecting from the smaller post-Boomer age cohorts.

As you know I’ve been saying we need to wait and see before prejudging the proposed immigration bill. Now that I’ve reviewed many of the main points of reference I have one thing to say. Wait a minute!

...The fact that McCain is losing it when asked the simplest question about it, and that there seems to this mad rush to passing it, I say - wait. In reading some of the tenants of the proposal I had far too many “What the??” moments to count. Far too many to simply “slide it through” for expediency.

Time for a prolonged debate.

John Hawkins: Project Payback: Google-Bombing Pro-Amnesty, Republican Senators Up For Election In 2008...

Since 2005, conservatives have been loudly saying, secure the border, build the fence, crack down on the people hiring illegal aliens, and no amnesty. Because those conservatives have put the interests of the American people above those of illegal aliens, they've been ignored, insulted, and talked down to -- not just by the Democrats, which is to be expected, but by Republican senators.

The latest amnesty bill, which was pushed through by Ted Kennedy without going through normal channels in the Senate, is as wildly unpopular as any bill in recent memory with conservatives. For example, on Friday I put up a poll here at Right Wing News that read, "What do you think of the illegal immigration bill the Senate is poised to pass?" 1552 people voted in that poll by the time this post was written and here are the results:

It sounds like a good bill. I support it. (4%)It sounds like a bad bill. I oppose it. (96%) ...

This bill has many complexities that have to be researched and analyzed before anyone can think about limiting debate. So far, I have not even heard that the legislation has been entered into the record -- so no one even has an official copy of the bill. That means that advocates want to press for approval before anyone reads it and has a chance to offer improvements. What exactly does that say about this legislation?

And what exactly is the rush? This proposal purports to solve a number of problems -- border security, the status of 12 million people illegally residing in our country, labor management for low-skilled jobs, and the creation of a vast bureaucracy to handle all of these projects. All address problems that have existed for 21 years. Can't we take a couple of weeks, at least, to peruse the bill to make sure it does it effectively?

And if not, why not?

This Congress has kept troops in combat waiting over 100 days for funding and supplies like the AMRAP armor that could save their lives. That's something that should have been completed in a week. It's beyond ridiculous to insist that Congress immediately pass something of this complexity with the barest of analysis, and it underscores the impression that we're being sold a bill of goods.

... Construction of at least half of the double-fencing prior to the issuance of a single probationary visa, and completion of all 800+ miles of the double fencing prior to the issuance of any 4 year Z visa or any Y visa.

... Acceleration of the six-year build-up in the authorized level of Border Patrol agents so that its number of agents reaches 25,000 within 3 years with the funding for their hiring in place. This should be another hard trigger.

... A detailed statement of how and by whom the millions of background checks and interviews called for by the act are to be done, with funding authorized and allocated to support such obligations. This should also be a trigger.

And now that we’ve had a few days worth of pundits, talk shows, and blogs sounding off on it, here’s another silly internet poll to see if LGF readers’ views have changed from the overwhelmingly negative response in the last one...

Senator McCain has been largely missing from the Senate since late March, when it became apparent his fundraising operation was seriously lagging. Senator McCain hasn’t made a Senate vote in the past five weeks. But he wanted to be front and center when the immigration bargain was announced, and Kennedy and Specter did everything they could to accommodate him. They reserved the Senate press gallery room for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, just in time for Senator McCain to attend before heading out to New York for more fundraising.

A minor problem arose. Bush administration negotiators and a bipartisan Senate group had been meeting several days a week since February, often with glacial progress. (McCain rarely attended, though his staff was there.) As of Thursday morning, however, agreement hadn’t been reached. A final meeting started at 10 a.m. in hopes of finishing the deal. With a dozen Senators, two Cabinet members (Chertoff and Gutierrez) and perhaps 15 staffers in the room discussing an unpublished documents exceeding 300 pages in length, it was slow going. Senator Cornyn, tacitly supported by Sen. Jon Kyl, pushed hard to streamline legal procedures to allow prompt deportation of illegals. Senator Kennedy resisted.

As the clock moved closer to 1:30 p.m., Senator McCain suddenly lost it. "This is chickenshit," he told Senator Cornyn. "I think it would expedite things if you would just leave the room, Senator, so we can get along with finishing this up." Senator Cornyn responded: "Wait a minute. We’ve been meeting for three months on this in good faith, and now you parachute in here this morning and tell me to leave? I think you’re out of line."

Senator McCain responded: "F*** you! I know what is going on here. I know more about immigration than anybody in this room!” Other Senators moved in to calm things down, and the talks went on. Senator Cornyn’s provision was not included. At 1:30 p.m. sharp, the conferees (not including Senators Cornyn or Menendez and a few other negotiators) were in the press gallery, congratulating each other. Senator Kennedy recognized Senator McCain early to make his televised comments, then Senator McCain departed before the press conference was over for a flight to New York City. Later that afternoon, he missed yet another Senate vote -– this one on the Democrats' $2.9 trillion budget plan, an outline for the largest tax increase in U.S. history...

Senator, as a longtime GOP supporter, I respectfully request that you and other Republican leaders call a halt to this disastrous immigration bill.

Conservatives and many centrists want enforcement of existing immigration laws first and foremost. What is proposed is instead an enormously complex amnesty program, which is certain to foist another tremendous bureaucracy on the public.

Furthermore, it will lead to permanent Democratic majorities and an outrageous tax burden on Americans. Please join with us in halting this abominable piece of legislation.

The 'draft Gore' exertions highlight a certain blissful naivety (note: I restrained myself and didn't say "gullibility" this time) present in certain segments of the electorate.

Why do I consider these well-meaning citizens naive? First, consider that Gore's 10,000-square foot Nashville estate consumes roughly $2,400 a month in gas and electric bills, including $500 a month for the pool-house. Gore also has two additional homes including a 4,000 square foot Arlington, Virginia mansion. And, while promoting his recent movie, Gore traveled in private jets rather than on commercial flights. So, when it comes to personal sacrifice, Gore isn't exactly making himself an eco-martyr.

About 65 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the most rapid and extreme global climate changes recorded in geologic history. The period has been named the "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum." The ocean was 18 to 27 degrees hotter than it is today. Antarctica, which is today's coldest place on Earth, was home to temperate forests, beech trees and ferns. The Earth had no permanent polar ice caps.

In the past 65 million years, the Earth's temperature has increased and decreased with no help from mankind. My questions to the anti-climate change warriors are: Can mankind really stop climate change, and what is the "correct" Earth temperature? [Ed: emphasis mine]

Don Surber notes several little-publicized events in which scientists increasingly question Gore's eco-hysteria using -- who'd have thunk it? -- science, as opposed to YouTube videos of glaciers collapsing into the sea.

Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week... Man’s contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn’t change the climate if we tried, he maintained.

“We’re all going to survive this. It’s all going to be a joke in five years,” he said.

[...and...]

Major cuts in carbon emissions would hurt the nation’s economy and provide little or no environmental benefit, a top hurricane predictor said Friday... And there’s scant evidence that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases affect hurricane power or frequency, professor William Gray told an audience Friday, the final day of the Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale.

But Oscar-winning expert Al Gore said penguins are walking across the Sahara...

Augie Auer said carbon dioxide as a result of man’s activities was only 3.2% of that, hence only 0.12% of the greenhouse gases in total. Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066%, 0.047% and 0.046% respectively.

And we’re going to waste trillions of dollars worrying about that 0.12%? Especially when the actual cause of Earth’s temperature fluctations is the Sun’s own temperature fluctuations?

Never one to let the facts get in the way of a business opportunity, Al Gore continues to shill for shutting down industrial capacity and for increasing the size of the "carbon-offset" market.

Of course, a little science never stopped Democratic party public relations hacks -- er, I mean op-ed columnists -- like Tom Teepen from slamming the GOP. In a series of columns, Teepen pilloried three GOP presidential non-contenders (Brownback, Huckabee, and Tancredo -- quick, name their home states!) for questioning Darwin's theory of evolution.

So far has the Republican Party fallen into a sink of anti-intellectualism. Indeed, into fantasy. One doesn't believe in or not believe in evolution, any more than one believes or not in physics...

Republicans, as a party, have moved a broad contempt for science toward the center of their vaunted "values..."

Teepen, Democratic party shill that he is, can't see the hypocrisy that oozes from every pore. Al Gore and his merry band of eco-marketers have used every tactic imaginable to silence the scientists who question his climate change campaign and carbon offset rhetoric.

Instead, Gore and his PR hacks have run rough-shod over any scientists who point to history and question the advisability of destroying the global economy to enrich the carbon offset marketeers. Don't look for a column on this topic any time soon from the likes of Teepen, Dowd, and Cohen.

The National Reviewintroduces evidence of Ted Kennedy's formidable prognosticative powers (and, no, I don't care if it's a word or not).

1965: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."

Prepare to repel boarders!

1986: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

2007: "Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system."